Anthropology

Archaeologists said they have unearthed 22 graves in northern Peru containing a trove of pre-Inca artifacts, including the first "tumi" ceremonial knives ever discovered by archaeologists rather than looted by thieves.

Humans and their close Neanderthal relatives began diverging from a common ancestor about 700,000 years ago, and the 2 groups split permanently some 300,000 years later, according to the most detailed analyses of Neanderthal DNA to date.

Under the Romans, Baalbek was known as Heliopolis, or the City of the Sun. In more recent times, the ancient settlement in northern Lebanon's fertile Bekaa Valley has been associated more with storm clouds; last summer, Israeli airstrikes caused

Using laser to remove small samples from the teeth of four ape-like species—known as Paranthropus robustus—whose remains were found in South Africa, researchers were able to determine what was on their menu.

Of all primates, human eyes are the most conspicuous; our eyes see, but they are also meant to be seen. Our colored irises float against backdrops of white and encircle black pupils. This color contrast is not found in the eyes of most apes.

Archaeologists said they found more than 1,000 silver coins in a Viking-era hoard discovered by chance on the Swedish island of Gotland. The treasure, believed to have been buried in the 10th century, also included several silver bracelets and weighe

Something in the ancient Greek temple of Delphi made its priestess high enough to believe she could predict the future. Scientists just can’t agree on what. In the temple, the resident female oracle, called a Pythia, was a role filled by a succession

An Ethiopian immigrant was convicted of the genital mutilation of his 2-year-old daughter and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in what was believed to be the first such criminal case in the United States.

The remnants of what could be an ancient corral for keeping horses have been unearthed in northern Kazakhstan. The finding suggests the Botai culture living in the region 5,600 years ago didn't just hunt the creatures for meat, but were domestica

The 13 footprints found in Cuatro Cienegas in the northern state of Coahuila are fossilized in stone less than an inch deep. "We believe they could be between 10,000 and 15,000 years old," said archeologist

The arrest of tomb robbers led archaeologists to the graves of three royal dentists, protected by a curse and hidden in the desert sands for thousands of years in the shadow of Egypt's most ancient pyramid.

Archaeologists announced that a monolith discovered earlier this month near Mexico City's main square is perhaps the largest ever unearthed in the city's center. The monolith is rectangular and measures nearly 13 feet on its longest side

A land bridge between Alaska and Siberia flooded to make the Bering Strait 11,000 years ago, more than 1,000 years earlier than previously thought, U.S. researchers reported. This would have closed off human migration by foot across the bridge 1,000

Unearthed the 250-year-old site of a merchant's establishment that sold goods to the thousands of soldiers who passed through this region during the French and Indian War, when Fort Edward was the largest British military post in North America.

Archaeologists said Sunday they had uncovered decorated human skulls dating back as long as 9,500 years ago from a burial site near the Syrian capital Damascus.
"The human skulls date back between 9,500 and 9,000 years ago, (on which) lifel

Even in ancient Peru, it seems dogs were a man's best friend. Peruvian investigators have discovered a pre-Columbian culture of dog lovers who built pet cemeteries and buried their pets with warm blankets and even treats for the afterlife.

Scientists have discovered a remarkably complete skeleton of a 3-year-old female from the ape-man species represented by “Lucy.” The discovery should fuel a contentious debate about whether this species, which walked upright, also

Hidden in a wooden chest in the heart of a monastery in Udupi, India, an ancient Hindu manuscript has been deteriorating bit by bit over the last 700 years. Now with the help of modern imaging technologies, scientists are illuminating the seemingly i

A writing system lost for 3,000 years has been rediscovered on an ancient stone tablet in Mexico. The tablet is the earliest example of writing in the New World, pushing back the origins of writing in the region by several hundred years,

Scientists removed the rear hatch on the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, although the work won't immediately remove the questions surrounding the sinking of the sub in 1864.
The 40-foot, hand-cranked sub, the first in history to sink an ene

Scientists have found the last refuge of the Neanderthals, revealing how they eked out an existence for thousands of years longer than had been thought. The evidence from a cave in Gibraltar that they were much more tenacious than previously